As someone who’s always interested in new health tools, I decided to try out the Lumen device. This little gadget measures your metabolism and helps you understand if you’re burning fat or carbs (glucose) or fat for energy at any given time.
But does it really provide helpful insights, or is it just another expensive gadget? Here’s what I discovered during my time with Lumen and my thoughts on whether it’s worth your investment.
What Is Lumen?
Lumen is a device that measures your breath to determine whether your body is burning fat or carbs (glucose). Its main selling point is to improve something called your "metabolic flexibility," which refers to your body’s ability to switch between burning carbs (glucose) and fat efficiently. The opposite is metabolic inflexibility which can be caused by overconsumption of nutrients, lack of exercise, or chronic over nutrition. Ideally, your metabolism should be able to adjust depending on what your body needs, whether it’s glucose for immediate energy or fat for longer-term energy.
I was curious to see how well Lumen could track this process and what the experience would be like, so I decided to give it a try.
What I Learned
During my time using Lumen, I learned that when you’re eating well, sleeping well, and moving your body, you naturally switch between burning carbs and fat. The device could show me when I was in fat-burning mode, often during fasting periods (i.e. right after waking up and before breakfast) or light exercise, and when I was relying more on glucose, especially before or after more intense workouts - or with an increase in my stress level. It’s a neat insight for anyone curious about how their body handles different types of fuel, and what stress, lack of sleep or other disruptions can do to your metabolic flexibility.
However, as I used the device, and as I suspected, this cute little device can't quite give you the full picture, because metabolism isn’t quite as simple as Lumen might suggest.
The Complexities of Your Body
Your metabolism is influenced by so many different factors beyond just whether you’re burning fat or carbs. To truly understand how your body processes energy, you need to take a broader look at your overall health.
Here are just a few of the factors that influence your metabolism:
Blood Sugar Regulation: Are you managing your blood sugar well with your diet, or are there spikes and crashes?
Cortisol Rhythms: Do you have a normal cortisol rhythm or are you chronically stressed?
Thyroid Health: Is your thyroid functioning optimally to support your metabolism?
Chronic Inflammation: Inflammation in the body can affect how your cells process energy.
Gut Health: Is your gut microbiome balanced and healthy?
Insulin Resistance: Is your body responding well to insulin, or are your cells struggling to absorb glucose?
Nutrient Deficiencies: Are you getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs to function?
Medications: Certain medications can influence how your body processes energy.
As you can see, metabolism is a complex process that goes far beyond whether you’re burning fat or carbs at the moment. To truly optimize your metabolism, you need to look at the big picture—and no device, including Lumen, can provide all the answers.
Nevertheless, here's my honest take on Lumen...the good and the bad.
The Pros of Lumen
Despite its limitations, Lumen does offer some useful features:
Real-time metabolic insights: It’s fun to see what your body is using for fuel, and it can be helpful to know whether you’re ready for a workout or if you need to fuel up first.
Fasting Guidance: Lumen can tell you if you’re still in fat-burning mode during a fast, which might help you decide whether to break your fast or keep going - especially if you're an early morning exerciser, and plan to do high intensity workouts.
Educational Tool: As a health coach, I found it helpful to learn more about this device, and how it works so I can explain it better to my clients.
The Cons of Lumen
However, there are drawbacks:
Expense: Lumen is not a cheap device, and for many people, the cost will probably outweigh the benefits. The device itself is roughly $200, and needs a monthly membership to provide all the data, scores and advice.
Inaccurate Food Tracking: Like many apps, the Lumen food tracker doesn’t include all foods, making tracking inaccurate and frustrating. Who else out there hates tracking food with apps?
Complexity: For most people, Lumen adds unnecessary complexity to their health journey. You don’t need a device to know that balanced meals, good sleep, stress management, and regular movement are key to metabolic flexibility.
My Final Thoughts
So, is Lumen worth it? For me, it was an interesting experiment, especially as a health coach. It helped me see what was behind the hype on social media, and I can now answer my clients' questions about it more thoroughly. But for my own health journey, I found that it added more complexity than I needed.
The concept of metabolic flexibility is important, but you don’t need an expensive gadget to achieve it. If you focus on the basics—eating well, sleeping enough, managing your stress, and moving your body—you’ll naturally support your metabolism in the way it’s designed to work.
If you’re curious about your metabolic state and love tracking data, Lumen might be a fun (albeit expensive) tool to try. But for most people, sticking to the fundamentals will be more than enough to achieve their health goals.
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